Thanks much for this. I'd never seen anything before that includes 4th and 5th sons. Now to check it out against the various families I've been studying. Loretta -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Barbara Fabricius Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2008 14:31 To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [DONEGALEIRE] Jr/Sr ... Old Irish Naming Patterns Sons 1st son was named after the father's father 2nd son was named after the mother's father 3rd son was named after the father 4th son was named after the father's eldest brother 5th son was named after the mother's eldest brother Daughters 1st daughter was named after the mother's mother 2nd daughter was named after the father's mother 3rd daughter was named after the mother 4th daughter was named after the mother's eldest sister 5th daughter was named after the father's eldest sister This convention was modified when the resulting name would mean that 3 people in one family had the same name. The superstition was that in the case of 3 having the same name, one would die. When one of the people having the name died, the name was reused on the next born child. Bobby [email protected]